1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of animal husbandry and more particularly to a retractable, rotating animal tether.
2. Description of the Related Art
When animals, and in particular dogs, need to be brought outside there are only a few options for the average owner. The animal may be set loose to roam as it desires, which unless the owner has a confined yard is a violation of local law in most places. The owner may choose to enjoy the exercise of walking along with the animal, employing a handheld leash of some sort. However, this option is not always desirable, nor practical. Some owners also utilize some variety of tethering device that is made fast to a post or inserted directly into the ground.
Examples of such tethers include the patents granted to Wendling, U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,843 and Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,487. Each of these patents disclose devices that include a tether attached in some manner to a spike that may be driven into the ground. However, this style of tether lends itself to tangling as although they are rotatable, neither offers retraction of the tether, which is a highly successful means of preventing entanglement of the animal. Therefore, what is required is some means of also retracting the tether.
Other prior art devices have attempted to solve this problem by adding retractability to the device. Examples include the patents granted to Bedient, U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,302, Zenteno, U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,500, and Scheid et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,263. The common weakness in all of these patents is that all of the devices are oriented in a vertical plane. The patent granted to Scheid et al., primarily resembles a typical handheld retractable leash that is clipped onto the top of a pole. The tether disclosed by Bedient also includes a pole with a portion similar to a handheld retractable leash, with the addition of an eyelet to assist with rotation. The patent granted to Zenteno includes retractability and rotation with the added feature of a tether brake. One reason for desiring a non-vertical orientation of the device is that a vertical orientation is not as strong as one that is horizontally mounted with a central shaft. For example, in Zenteno, the tether portion of the device is attached vertically to a stake. It is this attachment area that will likely fail first on the device.
Additionally, vertical orientation does not naturally lend itself to rotative forces. When an animal presents a force on the vertically oriented tether, the force comes at a downward angle relative to the device. When the animal moves laterally, the tethering member must then provide an indirect force to the device to enable the rotation means. These inefficient forces result in uneven wear, improper rotation, and even entanglement in certain situations.
None of these prior art devices solve the problems of entanglement along with providing the strength necessary to properly and safely tether an animal. There is also no practical way to combine patents such as those granted to Wendling or Miller with that of Zenteno. Any attempt to do so would result in an inoperable device, and one that still lacks many important features necessary to overcome the problems currently presented.
What is required is an animal tethering device that provides retractability and rotation. What is also required is an animal tethering device that prevents entanglement.
What is further required is an animal tethering device that can overcome the inherent weaknesses a vertically oriented tethering device.
What is also required is an animal tethering device wherein the anchoring shaft passes completely through a central area of the spool portion of the device.
It is also desired that the tethering device employ forces in the horizontal plane so as to take advantage of the most efficient means for rotation of the device.